10 Deadliest DC Comics Characters Who Are Actually Ninjas

The Ninjas were an ancient clan of warriors that ruled the nation of Japan with their fearsome reputation in the assassination. No matter how protected a person is, a Ninja could easily infiltrate his or her lair and deal a blow so silent and yet so deadly. DC Comics has quite a few numbers of people trained in the art of assassination and are virtually ninjas themselves. But only a few are actually the cream of the crop.

1. Lady Shiva

Lady Shiva would be born with the name Sandra Woosan. She is the goddaughter of O-Sensei, one of the greatest teachers in Oriental Martial Arts techniques. Lady Shiva is the world’s deadliest assassin. She was the one who trained Batman in the art of assassination and even Tim Drake, the third Robin who is now the Red Robin in the Bat-Family. Lady Shiva perfected the Body Language reading technique that Cassandra Cain uses to predict her opponents’ future moves and react pre-emptively. Lady Shiva is known to be very perceptive of her surroundings and has done some of the most impossible assassination missions in human history. She also invented a technique called the Leopard Blow that can kill even a superhuman.

2. David Cain

David Cain has been called the world’s deadliest assassin. He has more than enough stars and stripes on his shoulders in the form of an impeccable record that does justice to that moniker he earned. David Cain is a crucial member of the League of assassins and has trained himself in the art of silent killing. His skill with the blade is said to be so legendary that Ra’s Al Ghul aka the Demon’s Head – leader of the League of Assassins used him as his personal right-hand man and bodyguard. David Cain is known to meticulously plan his assassinations and always remain three or four steps ahead of his enemy. His search for a successor led him to his daughter Cassandra Cain and her to become one of the world’s deadliest warriors.

3. Karate Kid

The Japanese Superhero White Crane defeated and killed the supervillain Black Dragon in combat. Realizing that he had just orphaned Black Dragon’s only son, he took him under his wing and retired from the world of super-heroics. Val Amorr learned all forms of Martial Arts under the watchful tutelage of White Crane, who was now called The Sensei. To keep him from following his father’s footsteps, Amorr was also taught the peaceful techniques of meditation, sculpting, and painting. Amorr was not satisfied with the amount of training and traveled the universe in search of masters that could train him in forms of close combat techniques that not even humanity knew of. He returned to Earth and became a part of the Legion of Superheroes after impressing everyone when he defeated Super Boy using nothing but martial arts.

4. Cheshire

Cheshire first came into the foray in a 1983 Teen Titans issue. She was an assassin hired by a local Mob Boss to help stop the Teen Titans from meddling with his criminal operations. Cheshire proved more than a match for the Titans, who barely managed to win in that fight. Roy Harper later revealed that Cheshire and he was once a romantic couple and they have a daughter together. After her first appearance, Cheshire was seen multiple times as a recurring villain who will provide her services to the highest bidder. She is known to be very shrewd and blunt when it is absolutely needed.

5. Cassandra Cain

Cassandra Cain is the daughter of Lady Shiva and David Cain. As the child of two of the greatest close combat specialists in the history of the world, Cassandra Cain naturally followed her parents’ footsteps and became a legendary warrior even before she hit puberty. David Cain drilled into her a very unusually effective skill. Cain can literally predict every move that her enemy is going to make by looking and studying his body language. Cassandra Cain could kill people in her sleep but her first brush with death, when she killed a man, changed her. She was soon brought into the Bat-Family and with Batman and Oracle’s help, became the new Bat Girl.

6. Archer Braun

Archer Braun is sometimes seen as the equal to Lady Shiva with respect to sheer skill and technique! Archer Braun is not your regular hit-man with a high tech gadget pouch. He has tremendous skill in close-quarter combat that could rival the best of what the DC Universe has to offer. He once took on Black Canary and lady Shiva and single-handedly defeated both, who are considered martial arts geniuses, with ease. Archer Braun is also a psychic who uses telepathy to mask the opponent from knowing his location by either reading his enemies’ movies or drowning his target with thoughts that keeps him or her aloof and absent-minded until he gets in position for the killing blow.

7. Silver Monkey

Silver Monkey was only a kid when a group of assassins acknowledged his skills with the fist and allowed him to become an apprentice in the Monkey Fist Cult. Silver Monkey’s martial arts prowess allowed him to become one of their most prized fighters. The only warrior he could never defeat was called Paper Monkey, who was actually Lady Shiva in disguise. Silver Monkey left the clan and started his career as an assassin and became a gun for hire. Silver Monkey uses a poison coated Katana that has no anti-dote and employs a fighting style that uses capoeira, Karate and a mix of Crane, Monkey and Snake style Kung Fu. Not even Connor Hawke could stand his blows.

8. White Canary

White Canary was a mysterious villain that sprang up in a Birds of Prey comic book series. White Canary turned the lives of the Birds of Prey members upside down. No superhero could match her in skill or smarts. Her martial arts skills were second to none and using just her fists, she became an unstoppable force. It is later revealed that the White Canary was actually the thirteenth child of the legendary Martial Arts Master Si Fu. She was the secret offspring that Si Fu fathered and taught literally everything he knew. White Canary turned out to be better than all her twelve brothers called the Twelve Brothers in Silk. She was the one who murdered her brothers after Black Canary and the Birds of Prey defeated them and brought ‘shame’ to the family name according to her.

9. Shado

Shado was the heir to a Japanese Warrior Clan. Her parents were killed by an evil American Organization and she traveled to the United States to seek revenge. After she met Oliver Queen, Shado was made to realize that revenge is a weaker emotion than love and fell in love with him. Together, they had a child. Shado would continue helping her lover protect innocent lives. She once helped Green Arrow save Black Canary after she was captured and was being tortured by criminals. After the New 52 re-launch, Shado’s origin was rebooted. She was back being a ninja and was working for the Ninth Circle. But weirdly, she was now the mother of the half-sister of Oliver Queen. Yes, Shado did it with both the father and the son.

The Man! The Myth! The Legend! Batman is the one superhero that completes this list. While his close quarter skills may not be as sharp as lady Shiva, he is known to be a very resourceful fighter he knows how to use the shadows and his tactical genius in battle. Batman is a man of many talents. Like a Ninja, he is proficient in almost every art that either directly or indirectly aids an assassin to get close to his enemy and kill him. Batman was born a rich and spoilt brat but he became the man he is today after training with the best and toiling under the sun and the stars to become a legendary superhero. He is living proof that if you train hard enough, you CAN become a God.